The Ones That Got Away

Indirectly

   

When Henry and I get to my house he finally takes his hand off my back, stops pushing us away from the school. Stops pushing us away from Sam. "What the hell was that?" I demand turning towards Henry. We're standing in front of my front door, about to go in, but we need to talk about this first. "That?" He says, pointing in the direction of the school. "That I will explain when we get inside and into privacy." Henry starts moving his hand to the doorknob but I swat it away, frustration bubbling inside me like boiling water. On the walk to my house he didn't say a single word to me. I would ask him a question or try to start conversation but Henry was too focused on getting away from Sam. "No." I tell Henry, my eyes meeting his. "You're going to tell me now." 

   Henry pulls his gaze away from mine. His eyes dart from the garage to the doorknob to the ground by his feet. "Sam and I..." Henry starts. He shifts his weight, uncomfortably, from foot to foot. "We got in fight when he was driving me home, yesterday." His eyes meet mine again, hurt and betrayal hide behind them like they're waiting to launch at a prey.  "About?" I ask. I grab his sleeve to let him know I'll listen to whatever he has to say. "About..." Henry pauses and looks away. He doesn't know if he should tell me this, it's obvious. He's terrible at hiding emotions. I tug his sleeve a little to get him to look at me again. His gaze returns to mine.  "Was it about Laura?" I whisper. Henry looks away again. In a low whisper he tells me, "And you."

    We walk inside and immediately my parents race towards us. I'm swamped in a chorus of "Who's that?" and "What's he doing here?" I clear my throat loudly to hush my interrogating parents. "Mom, Dad, this is Henry." I motion to Henry. Even after our argument outside, Henry still smiles a real, genuine smile at my parents. "Henry, this my mom and my dad." I motion towards my parents. They smile back, even my dad has a real smile, no hint of warning in it at all. Henry shakes hands with both my parents. Through his smile Henry says, "Rome is my partner for an art project. I was hoping we could work on it here." Mom looks between me and Henry. "Of course, you can." 

  Henry moves towards the kitchen and sets his stuff down on the table. He turns around and looks at me, waiting. That's when my dad pipes in, "Actually, Rome has an art room. Upstairs." My head whips around to look at my dad. Dad just smiles at me, winks, then goes back to the living room. "Sweet." Henry replies to Dad, then picks his stuff up again and starts walking up the stairs. I start to follow him but mom nudges me first. "He's cute. And sweet." She says to me, looking at Henry walking up the stairs. "Umm... Okay?" I respond with a look of horror. "I'd be completely okay if you dated him." She states, turning away to go back to the living room with Dad. Okay, so Mom's a creep. 

   I show Henry to my art room, once inside he throws his stuff by the wall, sits down, and pats the floor next to him. As requested, I sit down. "Can you take out our sketches so if your parents come to check on us, it looks like we're working?" Henry asks me, turning towards me. "Yeah." While I pull our sketches out of my backpack I ask Henry a question I've been wanting to ask him all day. "Hey, Henry?" I ask. 

"Yeah?"

"How did it happen? Sam and Laura?" I look back at him, expecting a sad look or an angry look, but what I look up to see is him smiling. "I don't actually know." He responds. "W-what?" I ask. "Why are you smiling?" He grabs the sketches from me and sets them down. "I remembered something said about you yesterday." He responds. "Something Sam said." My gaze moves from his smile to his eyes. "What did Sam say about me?" I lean in slightly so I can hear his answer perfectly clear. "Sam said you're curious. That you'd ask about what you weren't there to see." I sit back and fold my hands in my lap, looking down at them and closing my eyes. "So now I'm predictable?" I look back up at him. Henry's eyes are still on me. He shakes his head. "No, not one bit." What does that mean?